Fastest startup of any Windows version. Better mouse and keyboard usability. Better integration of modern and "classic" Windows apps. Loads of included apps and utilities. Improved Mail app. Help for getting started. Better integration of tiled Start screen and desktop. Boot to desktop by default on laptops and desktops.

Cons

Dual nature may still confuse some. Windows app store lacks some big titles. Included apps (mail, music) not as slick as those of OS X Mavericks.

The Windows 8.1 Update released at Microsoft Build on April 2 can be viewed as both a step backward and a step forward for Microsoft's vision of a hybrid OS that's equally comfortable on tablets, slates, laptops, and desktops. In the first version of its daring two-in-one OS bet, the company put nearly all the focus on the touch interface. With this update, mouse and keyboard users finally get the attention they've been clamoring for.

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It's hard to believe that it's been less than a year and half since Windows 8's initial release in October 2012, and we've already gotten a third revision. But, as the lack of a new version number or even point number indicates, Windows 8.1 Update is hardly a completely revamped piece of software.

Some may be surprised that, unlike Apple's updated Mavericks OS X, Windows 8.1 Update brings no actual new features—there's no new ebook reader or map app (it already includes the latter, and you can get the former in the Windows app Store) such as Mavericks added. What Windows 8.1 Update does bring is a collection of new interface elements and behaviors for mouse users. Best of all, none of these features requires learning anything new—they're all derived from familiar old ways of interacting with PCs. And that's not all: The update includes about 200 performance tweaks that benefit all users—of both touch and non-touch PCs.

Even the process of getting the update itself follows this streamlined approach: Starting April 8, Windows 8.1 users will simply receive it through the standard Windows Update mechanism—it's not necessary to download it via the Windows app store and install it. Windows 8.1 Update is also available to Windows 7 users from the Microsoft Web Store, both as a packaged DVD and on new PCs, laptops, and tablets. There are standard and Pro versions, priced at $119.99 and $199.99 respectively. The Pro version adds business capabilities such as disk encryption and network domain joining, and it is required for those who want the Windows Media Center home theater software.

Spoiled for ChoiceWindows is about choices. A whopping 5,400 certified Windows 8.1 PC models of all shapes and sizes are available. There's also the choice of more than 4 million Windows applications. No other platform can claim anything close. A healthy 40 percent of Windows devices now available are touch-capable, and some people may be surprised to know that user satisfaction for these devices is actually higher than the company has measured for any previous OS, including Windows 7.

But good old desktops and laptops with keyboards and mice still make up the vast majority of Windows machines in use, and users of those machines have been the most vocal critics of Window 8. Version 8.1 partially addressed their concerns; Windows 8.1 Update really takes their needs to heart.

In fact, when PCMag got an early look at the version, Windows Principal Program Manager Chaitanya Sareen admitted that "the mouse and keyboard needed work," that they'd heard the feedback, and that "we just wanted to bring the love back to the mouse." This Update targets the mouse dead on, even giving mouse users capabilities not available in touch-tablet PCs.

What's New in Windows 8.1 Update?Default boot to desktop for mouse-driven PCs. Probably the clearest example of Microsoft's attention to desktop and laptop users is that the OS now detects whether it's being run on a touch-capable device. If not, it boots by default to the desktop view, which looks nearly identical to the familiar Windows 7 interface. Using this device-profile detection, the updated OS also adjusts in many other ways to the needs of keyboard and mouse users, as we'll see later in this review.

For some users, this default booting to the desktop for non-touch PC users could be the biggest change. Windows 8.1 users could already change a preference setting to boot to the desktop, but when Update detects the PC type, it automatically makes desktop view the default. Most of what's new follows the same strategy: the way the operating system works changes to match the machine's profile—touch or mouse/keyboard.

Search and Power buttons on Start screen. You could always start typing at the Windows 8 Start Page, but there was nothing to tell you that until now. You could also search from the Charms—those buttons that appear when you move the cursor to one of the right corners with a mouse or swipe in from the right on a touch screen. The 8.1 Update adds an explicit magnifying-glass button to make the search capability clearer. This opens the OS's powerful search tool, which can find not only apps and files, but also Web content and playable songs.

Before this update, the power button was pretty much hidden—you had to go into the Settings Charm, and then choose Power, then Shut down (or Sleep or Restart if you prefer). Microsoft's thinking there showed the bias towards touch tablets—after all, who shuts down an iPad with the operating system software? No, you just press the hardware power button, or, more likely, let it go to sleep. Adding a clear on-screen power button in Windows 8.1 Update is sure to save new users a lot of frustration.

Modern apps on the desktop Taskbar. The so-called "modern" apps, or those mobile-style, tablet friendly, full-screen apps you get from the Windows Store, have till now mostly lived in a separate world from traditional Windows desktop programs. One of Update's key goals is to bring these worlds together, and nothing could be more of a sign of this than seeing a modern app's button on the desktop Taskbar. The Update adds the Store button to the taskbar, to further this combining of the two app types—something that should please developers of Store apps.

This could, however, have the effect of confusing desktop users, who may think a Taskbar button will open a desktop app, when in fact it's shunting them into the new app world. Compensating for this is another change in Update: Taskbar now shows up whenever you drag the mouse to the bottom of the screen in a modern app. That includes the Start screen itself. This is a nice task-switching option, but the extra buttons can make for a cluttered interface and sometimes bump into the app's own interface controls. In the case of Start, its All Apps button politely slides away after a pause.

Note that even the small tray icons at the right show up, along with system info such as network connection, battery charge, time, and date. Also note that modern apps get the "thumbnail toolbar" mini view that only desktop apps used to have. This is useful for pausing and playing media-player apps, for example.

Title bars for modern apps. In addition to getting a Taskbar, modern apps now also get a title bar, just like any Windows program for the past 20 years. The title bar appears when you start a modern app and whenever you move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen. This lets you close or minimize the app in the way Windows users have been accustomed to for decades—by clicking the x at top right.

Smarter mouse movement responses. Microsoft has made mousing around smoother and more familiar feeling with the Windows 8.1 update. The rule of thumb for getting around Windows 8 and 8.1 has long been "edges for touch, corners for mouse." Those actions call up OS features such as the Charms menu or running app list. Now, though, if you move the mouse quickly to the corner of a window just to hit its top-right X button, or to a browser's top-left back button, you won't see these OS features unless you pause the mouse. In another time-honored tribute to mouse power users, right-clicking on the Start screen opens a context menu near the cursor rather than the app bar at the bottom of the screen.

A cause of frustration to many a desktop PC user in Windows 8 and 8.1 has been the unwanted opening of modern apps when they double-click files in the desktop. The best example of this was the image file: opening a File Explorer window and double-clicking on a JPG entry would inevitably open the modern Photos app. While this app became a lot more powerful in Windows 8.1, Microsoft now takes the more sensible approach of opening your desktop-clicked image in the desktop photo viewer.

There are plenty of smaller changes in the Update: For example, newly installed modern apps still go into the full All Apps page below the Start screen, but now they're more obviously highlighted, and the Start screen itself indicates that there are new apps down there, with a message like "1 new app installed" next to the All Apps down arrow. Previously, a user might install an app only to scratch his head, wondering where it went.

Improvements in Windows 8.1 before the Update also included a more consistent look between the desktop and mobile app interfaces, lock screen slideshow and notifications, better help to get people going with the new interface, the ability to boot to the desktop, a sort of Start button, more windowing options for modern apps, and more settings in the modern interface. The Windows app store got a much-needed face-lift, and the default apps like Mail, Internet Explorer, Skype, Xbox Music and Video, and search also benefit from updates. We'll take a look at all of this below.

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About the Author

Michael Muchmore is PC Magazine's lead analyst for software and web applications. A native New Yorker, he has at various times headed up PC Magazine's coverage of Web development, enterprise software, and display technologies. Michael cowrote one of the first overviews of web services for a general audience. Before that he worked on PC Magazine's S... See Full Bio

Microsoft Windows 8.1

Microsoft Windows 8.1

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